CB Antennas

[Big John]

What should a driver go with. I am outfitting a new truck and just looking for a good fiberglass antenna. I have used Wilson 2000 in the past and heard Wilson is owned by Barjan and the product is not as good anymore but that is CB talk. I was wondering about Francis antennas, they say you just mount and go. is this true?

[Hat Rak]

Fiberglass antennas? The only one I'd use is the Firestik II. Be sure to vaseline them so they don't ice up during these winter months.

[bcbasher]

i would stay away from fiberglass antennas. you were on the right track with the Wilson 2000. steel whips will always out perform a glass antenna any day as long as you have them tuned properly.

as far as Barjan buying the Wilson brand of antennas is just a myth.

if you look at the packaging you will see the Wilson brand on there and not the barjan.

i do know that barjan just bought the teletex road kind brand of mics but nothing has come out for them buying the Wilson line of antennas.

also for some great information check out www.cbradiotalk.com

a lot of good information there and you will learn a lot of stuff on there too i know i have.

73's
BossHog
A.K.A
BCBASHER

[Triple.C]

i would stay away from fiberglass antennas. you were on the right track with the Wilson 2000. steel whips will always out perform a glass antenna any day as long as you have them tuned properly.

as far as Barjan buying the Wilson brand of antennas is just a myth.

if you look at the packaging you will see the Wilson brand on there and not the barjan.

i do know that barjan just bought the teletex road kind brand of mics but nothing has come out for them buying the Wilson line of antennas.

also for some great information check out www.cbradiotalk.com

a lot of good information there and you will learn a lot of stuff on there too i know i have.

73's
BossHog
A.K.A
BCBASHER

Steel does out perform fiberglass no doubt. They arent as durable however and if you intend on using sideband fiberglass will not work at all.

If you want my recommendation on fiberglass antennas, go with the 5 1/2 foot Francis hot rods, they are very good and they are self-tuning.

[bcbasher]

i have to disagree with you. i agree that a Francis antenna is a damn good antenna but there's no antenna that is self tuning. you could probable just set it up and go with something like a cobra 29 or 25 or a a uniden 76 or 78 but when stepping up into bigger radios is where you want to make sure you have you SWR's down to the lowest point possible.

an yes a fiberglass antenna will work on side band you just have to make sure that its set up to handle the different freq's of witch you will be talking on.

[GMAN]

The Firestik work just fine and isn't that expensive. Wilson does make a good antenna, but I put a couple of Firestiks on one of my trucks a couple of years or so ago. I haven't had any problem with them. It does what I need without spending a fortune.

[Uturn2001]

as far as Barjan buying the Wilson brand of antennas is just a myth.

Wilson is a division of Barjan. I can not tell you for how long they have been, but they are currently at least. If you have any doubts then go to http://www.wilsonantenna.com/ and look just above the American Flag.

I have been using Wilson antennas for several years now and have never had any problems or complaints about quality of their products.

[Jackrabbit379]

What should a driver go with. I am outfitting a new truck and just looking for a good fiberglass antenna. I have used Wilson 2000 in the past and heard Wilson is owned by Barjan and the product is not as good anymore but that is CB talk. I was wondering about Francis antennas, they say you just mount and go. is this true?

I use 5'6" Francis Hot Rods. All I had to do was tighten them in. They work great for me. Not that high,either. I just have one,but I paid $16.95 for mine at the Flying J.

[bcbasher]

as far as Barjan buying the Wilson brand of antennas is just a myth.

Wilson is a division of Barjan. I can not tell you for how long they have been, but they are currently at least. If you have any doubts then go to http://www.wilsonantenna.com/ and look just above the American Flag.

I have been using Wilson antennas for several years now and have never had any problems or complaints about quality of their products.

well see i learn someething new everyday. i didnt know that they were in togeather. appreciate the info. and yes wilsons are good antennas i have a 5000 trucker series on my semi with about 800 watts and it has held up great.

[Triple.C]

i have to disagree with you. i agree that a Francis antenna is a damn good antenna but there's no antenna that is self tuning. you could probable just set it up and go with something like a cobra 29 or 25 or a a uniden 76 or 78 but when stepping up into bigger radios is where you want to make sure you have you SWR's down to the lowest point possible.

an yes a fiberglass antenna will work on side band you just have to make sure that its set up to handle the different freq's of witch you will be talking on.

Oh really, have u seen a Francis antenna? If so how do you tune it? The copper is infused in the fiberglass. You cant remove a cap on top like a firestik and trim it.

And if fiberglass will work on sideband it sure wont work with my radio. Only my Wilson 2000 will work.

[inmate1577]

Get a firestick. Me personally, I dont understand the investing in hundreds of dollars worth cb radio crap. I only use the thing at shippers, other than that, I leave it off.

Right now, I'm using a single firestick and a 25 year old radio shack cb radio, and it works just fine.

[kc0iv]

i have to disagree with you. i agree that a Francis antenna is a damn good antenna but there's no antenna that is self tuning. you could probable just set it up and go with something like a cobra 29 or 25 or a a uniden 76 or 78 but when stepping up into bigger radios is where you want to make sure you have you SWR's down to the lowest point possible.

an yes a fiberglass antenna will work on side band you just have to make sure that its set up to handle the different freq's of witch you will be talking on.

Oh really, have u seen a Francis antenna? If so how do you tune it? The copper is infused in the fiberglass. You cant remove a cap on top like a firestik and trim it.

And if fiberglass will work on sideband it sure wont work with my radio. Only my Wilson 2000 will work.

For what its' worth. Both Wilson (purchased in 1999) and Francis (purchased in 2000) are owned by Barjan along with Diesel Eagle (purchased in 1998). See the press release at: http://cbworldinformer.com/200108/barjan_francis.htm

If a given antenna will work on AM it will work exactly the same on SSB. The antenna doesn't know what kind of signal is present. Now if you are trying to use AM on the regular CB channels and SSB on the illegal 10 meter band then that is a different story. No antenna can cover that wide of frequency spread and maintain low VSWR.

kc0iv

[Sealord]

"800 watts"? That means the radio is pulling 66 2/3 amps? Wow!
Personally, as far as CB antennas go, I'd rather have copper wire on a fiberglass antenna form, with its lower reluctance to RF energy flow than a steel antenna with its higher reluctance. BOL

[uglymutt]

heeeheheheehehehehehehe hhehehehehehehehehehehehe okay I will stop laughing so hard..... man what fun on here, steal better than glass hehehehehehehehehehehehehe wow so not true at all.....

okay todays lessons in cb ANTENNAS

1)your cb output is only as good as the wire conneted to the antenna, in other words if you got bad cable then your $120 dollar antetnna is wortless

2)fibreglass , copper, alunimum, stainless are are equal when propagating radio waves at minimal setting.. in other words unless your broadcasting 100,000 watts then it don't matter at low low low levels (cb is 4 watts) what is used to tune the transmitter... okay here is some fact, the actual transmission come out the feedpoint... the feedpoint is where the cable(coax) meets the antenna, the lenght of the antenna is used to tune the coax swr to reduced high feedback to the transmitter (tunable antenna works good for this)

WOW so copper or stainless or whatever the antenna is made out of is basically going to recieve electromagnetic energy, when transmitting is will come out the feedpoint, so the lenght of the antenna is used for tuning the coax between the transmitter and the feedpoint to achieve low loss of standing waves in the coax.... (it does get over your heads at this point) so basically the antenna makeup is generally for receiving , so does copper, stainless, gold receive different, well YES they do. Only if your trying to receive a low low low signal from mars will the makeup of the antenna help , for here on earth, you can receive just fine using anything that can conduct electricity.

3) tunable and non-tunable, all depends do you want to tune or not, that is the only difference, both still do a great job, non-tunable is great for simplicity..

--------------------------------------

Okay here is some myths covered and some tips in how to do a good job hooking up your rig

Myth 1.) coax lenght matters, yes and no is correct, yes it matters if you only run a dual harness, if your running a single antenna then it don't matter, you want the shortest lenght possible. (only to not have a bunch of coax left over to hide)

Myth 2.)non-tunable antenna are not tunable, yes and no is correct, you can't tune the actual antenna, when ran in a single setup you can not tune, its set to meet the requirements at a standard level and works great just hookup and go, and yes you can tune only in a dual harness setup where you trim the coax lenght to achive the results for lower swr. Here is the only time coax lenght matters.

Myth 3.) A single antetnna is better than duals.... yes and no is correct, yes a single antenna is only better if you can get the feedpoint above the highest point of ground and in the center of the ground field, in other words on a tractor/trailer it would need to be ontop of the trailer and in the center of it. hmmmmm wow each time you hook you need to climb up there and get the magmount down, hehehehehehe so yes a dual on a t/t would perform better.

here is how, since you cannot get above the highest point of ground, signal is lost from one side or the other, a dual harness was created to transmit and recieve from both sides of the truck. A single antetnna works but a dual setup will achieve a better front to back ratio where as a single will recieve more on the one side its mounted on, its all in how far do you want to talk behind you and in front rather than one side or the other..

Dual harness is only meant for large rigs like RV's, T/Trls, and such, you see them behind the cab of a pickup truck, just laugh at them, no need to know why just laugh, really I told you why here but there is no need to understand why...just laugh

Okay for a simple set up, buy any good antenna 4 feet or longer (recieve purposes only) thats non-tunable. get the proper lenght of premade coax, enough to go from the radio to the antenna, and hook it up...

for more than that you need a SWR meter, maybe a dummy load (dual set ups) and time to hook up a tunable system.....there all alot of BAD websites trying to explain how to tune SWR and only a few good websites that do explain in real terms how to tune properly..

a few good tips to remeber is never make any sharp bends in the coax or pinch the coax in doors or windows, this will cause the SWR to play serious games with you and its alot of work to figure out...

tuning a system is farely simply and I can explain how on single and dual setups... for that just ask in another post and I will ge to it...

[kc0iv]

Okay here is some myths covered and some tips in how to do a good job hooking up your rig

Myth 1.) coax lenght matters, yes and no is correct, yes it matters if you only run a dual harness, if your running a single antenna then it don't matter, you want the shortest lenght possible. (only to not have a bunch of coax left over to hide)

Depends. It all depends on what the feed impedance is. A 1/4 wave impedance is appox. 35 ohms over a good ground-plane. So you should use a coax that is 75 ohms with a 1/4 wavelenght. Secondly, it also depends on what type of ground-plane you have. Most trucks don't have enough of a ground-plane and thereby the antenna will be detuned.

Myth 2.)non-tunable antenna are not tunable, yes and no is correct, you can't tune the actual antenna, when ran in a single setup you can not tune, its set to meet the requirements at a standard level and works great just hookup and go, and yes you can tune only in a dual harness setup where you trim the coax lenght to achive the results for lower swr. Here is the only time coax lenght matters.

Wrong. There are several ways a fixed lenght antenna can be tuned. One of the easiest way is with an antenna tuner. Normally a simple L/C circuit will do.

Your second part is also wrong. Again I all depends on how the antennas are setup. What feed impedance they are reflecting to the phasing coax.

Myth 3.) A single antetnna is better than duals.... yes and no is correct, yes a single antenna is only better if you can get the feedpoint above the highest point of ground and in the center of the ground field, in other words on a tractor/trailer it would need to be ontop of the trailer and in the center of it. hmmmmm wow each time you hook you need to climb up there and get the magmount down, hehehehehehe so yes a dual on a t/t would perform better.

here is how, since you cannot get above the highest point of ground, signal is lost from one side or the other, a dual harness was created to transmit and recieve from both sides of the truck. A single antetnna works but a dual setup will achieve a better front to back ratio where as a single will recieve more on the one side its mounted on, its all in how far do you want to talk behind you and in front rather than one side or the other..

The direction of the signal path depends on several factors. Such things as phasing between the antenna, material around the signal paths, etc.

Dual harness is only meant for large rigs like RV's, T/Trls, and such, you see them behind the cab of a pickup truck, just laugh at them, no need to know why just laugh, really I told you why here but there is no need to understand why...just laugh

Okay for a simple set up, buy any good antenna 4 feet or longer (recieve purposes only) thats non-tunable. get the proper lenght of premade coax, enough to go from the radio to the antenna, and hook it up...

for more than that you need a SWR meter, maybe a dummy load (dual set ups) and time to hook up a tunable system.....there all alot of BAD websites trying to explain how to tune SWR and only a few good websites that do explain in real terms how to tune properly..

I agree there are many bad sites and a lot of mis-information about antennas. Very few have the full understanding of what goes on about antennas. What the feed impedance is and what effect it will have in relationship to the total setup. As an example you say use a SWR meter. Will to do the job correctly you should use an antenna scope. You could have a SWR metter show a match yet have an antenna that shows a reactive component the SWR meter won't show.


My suggestion. Mound a single antenna on the left side of the truck (protects the antenna from trees). Something in the range of 4' lenght. Base loaded. With a proper ground. Enough 50 ohm coax to reach from the antenna to the radio. Start using it.


kc0iv

[Hat Rak]

When are you going to upgrade to Extra, KC0IV?

[kc0iv]

When are you going to upgrade to Extra, KC0IV?

I really don't plan on up-grading. I took all my test downtown at the FCC office so there is never a question about me taking a questionable test.

Plus now I have a license that no new ham can't get. I've had this license since the middle '60s and I guess I'm kinda stuck in my ways.

Since I operate mostly CW I wouldn't gain much in freq.

I also have my 1st phone. Had it since the early 70s.

kc0iv

[Hat Rak]

I really don't plan on up-grading. I took all my test downtown at the FCC office so there is never a question about me taking a questionable test.

Plus now I have a license that no new ham can't get. I've had this license since the middle '60s and I guess I'm kinda stuck in my ways.

Since I operate mostly CW I wouldn't gain much in freq.

I also have my 1st phone. Had it since the early 70s.

kc0iv

Oh ok. Just curious. I'm just about ready to take the General class exam. I was really looking forward to taking the Element 1 exam and they got rid of it! :evil:

[uglymutt]

I am confused there kc0iv, you say the impedance of a quarter wave antenna is 35 ohms, I run on my blazer a 102 stainless steel whip with 50 ohm rg-8m coax and have a 1.5 to 1 ratio on 3 bands, one above and below the cb band, if I ran 75 ohm coax the match would be off, I did this for several years and tried everything from 200 ohm down to 5 ohm wire and tested dual and quad harnesses with antron 99 base antennas, the 50 ohm is a standard wire for cb hook ups, running 75 ohm is generally used in a dual co-phase harness which has been developed over 35 years ago and has worked since then, I remember using 1/4 wave antennas that were non tunable witth 50 ohm coax and we used a capacitor on the feedpoint to get SWR to match if need be, this was before the pl259 was used, as for antetnna tuners, we used them on long wire antennas, I tuned a trash can and a car body to a piece of roofing, we also tried the train tracks but could not get them to match, we transmitted on lightbulbs to coat hangers so a matcher is great for this but not trucks, thats funny...

I been a ham for 30 years and never heard what you are saying here, you got me confused, the reason why coax is 50-52 ohms is that way for a reason, I can buy a non tunable francis 5 foot whip and a 10 foot piece of 50 ohm rg 58 coax and a cheap cobra 19 radio and hook it up on the right mirror of a truck and get a 1.5 to 1 match on all 40 channels, why would i need a scope, we used them when testing dual and quad harnesses so its great if your a designer and developing antennas, a swr meter is just fine for the general setting of a 4 watt cb... where are you coming from with your reasons here, its not rocket science... we could discuss velocity factors and how to cut coax to proper length but thats all good for a commercial 100,000 watt station and we all know that the impedance in a coax cable is determined by the distance from the inner wire and the gap to the braid so by sharp bends or pinching the wire will change the ohms which will change the match, so there is no need for all this info for a simple setup, some people think too much and really its not a concern when you can just hook up a cb and go.... damn antenna tuners trying to get that 1.00001 to 1 ratio, you all crack me up..

What I said is not wrong at all, its just you have a different way of doing it, so I know you been a ham for 10,000 years and your god but the devil in me says your a fool for saying what you did... now I guess your not wrong because what you said can be done so can my advice which is meant for people who aren't godlike and have scopes and matchers to just hook up and play with a cb... better luck next time.

[Bumper]

I got ya both beat. I was the NCOIC of a Propoganda AM Radio Broadcasting Station in the Army. 200 ft tower and a 50,000 watt transmitter.....

So there......


Got an extra can of squelch you can loan me??????